Ch. 3: Why He's Here
It's school time and Ichigo is trying to focus. Since it's the new school year and that means new school class groups, she's finally in a class with Masaya and has been observing his brilliance in all of the subjects. But they're sitting so far apart. She's in the second row and he's in the fourth row out of five rows. She couldn't be more disappointed but it's not the thought of not sitting next to her prince charming that she's upset about. What's distracting her is that the other aliens that are still alive haven't attacked since Kisshu died. Ichigo can still remember his words when she told him about that.
"I know Pai and I know Taruto. My death is not going to make them give up. I may be the strongest but they are pretty strong themselves so they won't be discouraged. Besides, they love their people too much to give up."
'Yeah, I know,' she thinks like he's still here. 'But it's suspicious. Not even an alien alert or any suspicious events happened around the city.'
Ichigo just sighs at that and Masaya notices after looking up from the math equation on his book.
"Aoyama! Please give us the answer."
Masaya looks up and says, "Yes, sir." Then he stands up to give the answer.
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"Ichigo, is there something bothering you?" Masaya finally asks. Ichigo looks up from her barely eaten bento when he asks that. She didn't expect him to ask.
Right now it's lunch time and both Ichigo and Masaya are sitting on the roof of the school by themselves and they're eating lunch together.
Masaya looks at her with eyes full of concern as he tells her, "If there is anything wrong, you can tell me."
She gets into dreamy land by when he asks her that. He's so nice and cool when he tells her that. He's an understanding person, at least that's what Ichigo sees when she looks at him. But there is one concern. Should she tell him about Kisshu's death and him still being here along with the alien's strange behavior of not attacking earth?
"Are you upset because you're upset about what happened to Kisshu?"
She gasps and flinches at that. She got out of dreamy land and is utterly surprise by that. She's not surprise that he knows about Kisshu. She's surprise that he knows that he died. She asks, "How did…How did you know that?" Now he's confused. Masaya looks away from her and looks at the ground in front of her. "Aoyama-kun?"
"How did I know?" he asks, mostly towards himself. Then he starts seeing images. He sees swords clashing, blasts, monsters, and glass. He can even feel rage starting to boil up but he doesn't know where it's coming from.
Then suddenly, he sits up with his lunch in hand. Ichigo is even more confused as he tells her, "Sorry, Ichigo. I have to go." Then he just left her there on the roof.
Ichigo is dumbstruck but she's curious. She's curious about how Masaya knew.
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"Come out, come out, where ever you are," Ichigo chants as soon as she enters her room.
After school, Ichigo just went straight home without even visiting the café and without Masaya. There was kendo practice and he didn't look well. She tried to get him to go home and get some rest but he just smiled and told her that he'll be fine. So she left and now she's home and she's walking to the edge of the bed while she finished the chant.
"I know you're here, you can't hide from me. Come out, come out, where ever you are."
Then like in every entrance, he hugs her from behind and finishes, "Here I am!" Moment later, she feels his lips on her cheek again. "Good afternoon, my little kitty!"
"Good afternoon," she greets back but with a more dead voice. He notices that.
Kisshu asks, "Koneko-chan, what's wrong? Did something happen?" Then Ichigo tells him her day.
"Well I was out of it in class because I had other important things on my mind. Important things such as the alien attacks and their strange little break period. I got caught by the teacher for that but then I was still wondering about that when it was lunch time. I was with Aoyama-kun and it was just me and him on the roof like our own private date." After she said that with a dreamy voice and hearts in her eyes, Kisshu got upset. Ichigo notices the sudden disappearance of his touch but looks up in front of her to see Kisshu sitting in the air cross legged and his hands crossed in front of him with an annoyed and jealous look. His fingers are even tapping in an impatient matter. She continues with her story when she saw him in front of her. "But here comes the weird part. He was asking me of how I was doing these pass couple of days because I was being less cheery, or so they say. Before I could reassure him that I am perfectly fine, he asks me if I was depressed about your death." Kisshu flinches in surprise of that and stops tapping his finger.
He asks, "Did you tell him about me dying?"
She shakes her head. "No and that's the weird part. Aoyama-kun knows that I am a Mew Mew, the reason why I can't make it to dates some times, and that I'm fighting aliens and monsters to save all of humanity. But I never told him events like a new thing that happened in town. I don't want him getting worried if I told him that I nearly drowned in the dam or that I nearly fell to my death from Tokyo tower. When he asks, I answer and usually it's to wonder on what I needed to do that would cause me to cancel a date or something like that. He hasn't asked me of what happened lately so when he asked me if I was depressed, I was surprise." Then she lets out a sigh of exhaustion. "I swear! These past few days just keep piling more and more stress on me." Kisshu blinks at this but then smirks as a plan comes to mind.
He appears right in front of her and tries to be cute. She's surprise that he's in her face and he has the big puppy dog eyes and the small mouth look as he asks, "Am I the cause of your stress, koneko-chan?" with a baby voice. The look in his eyes when he pleaded her and the sound of his voice is just making Ichigo nervous and gives her the shutters.
Then there was something she notices. It was the first five seconds, he was only five inches away but then he ends up two inches closer. Immediately he knows what he's going to do. Him coming closer and closer and closing his eyes proves that theory. But since she's not asleep yet, she just ducks passes his body. It is a transparent so he felt her go through him and he turns around to see her stinks her tongue out while sitting on her bed.
"Nice try," she tells him. Now he just looks hurt. Ichigo can actually see puppy dog ears and tails coming out while he's giving her the puppy dog pow and sitting across from her on the bed.
"Koneko-chan, you're mean," he whines, trying to be cute again.
Ichigo just tries to pat him on the head, not hard that her hand goes through and reminds, "And yet you died for mean old me." Then her hand stays on his head. Then she asks him, "Why are you here, Kisshu?"
He's surprise to hear that. So much that he stands up straight and causes her hand to be pulled back. To her, it looks weird on how his hand can go right through his head. He crawls closer, not to kiss her but to be close and asks, "Don't you remember anything I said when I was alive?"
She tells him, "I remember perfectly." He's doesn't look convinced.
"Go to sleep!" he tells her.
"Uh?"
"Take a nap, kitty. You had a long day and your physical body needs to rest."
"Alright, alright," she tells him, giving in. "But any funny business and you're doomed, got it!"
"I'll take that for granted because I know you're serious."
She gives him the eye for that but she lies on the bed and tries to calm down. She closes her eyes and waits for sleep to take over and take her to dream land. But as soon as she enters, she sees a memory.
First she sees a broken glass window, glass still fallowing and even the windows next to it are all blocked off with bars of wood nailed to it. She knows that look and soon she hears voices; hers and Kisshu's voice. She turns around and she sees a dying Kisshu reaching for her face and starts stroking it. His shakiness is visible even from so far away.
"You don't have to do anything but stay this close," he tells her. "I don't mind if I die so long you're here."
The real Ichigo just looks like she's ready to cry from this memory as the dream Mew Ichigo cannot believe that her enemy just took the hit of the pipe for her and all that she gets is a bruise.
"Why?" she asks. "Why did you save me? Why did you do it?! I don't get it."
"It's because I love you that's why. And because I love you, I can't help but protect you when you're in trouble." That was when Mew Ichigo started to cry. She cried tears that escaped her eyes and started to drip down her face quicker than the real Ichigo. She's still holding them in because she already experience this. Seeing it again just hurts less than it did back then.
Seeing her tears, the dying Kisshu used the last of his strength to kiss Ichigo one last time. Mew Ichigo didn't expect to see that coming so she was speechless after Kisshu kissed her. He just smiled at her with weak dying eyes.
"Thank you for tears, kitty. I'll always be with you; watching over you and protecting you from any danger. See ya…Ichigo." Then he died. Simple and painfully as that. But this dream didn't go as far as letting Ichigo hear her own scream for him after she realized that Kisshu will never open his eyes again in the living breathing world.
The dreamed ended with that and the scenery changed to darkness but only the darkness of outer space. She saw all of the nine planets in the solar system as if they're really close instead of billions and billions of miles away. It was only the millions of stars shining so brightly and beautiful that look billions and billions of miles away. She feels like she's standing on solid ground and she feels Kisshu's arms around her from behind.
He whispers in her ear, "I'm here because I want to protect and watch over you, my little kitten. I'm not ready to move on yet and I don't care if other people cannot see or hear me. Just so long as you can hear and see me." Then her legs got weak. After watching that, she didn't have the strength to stand. He came down with her and she just sits there, trying to hold back tears that might come to the surface. Then to her small surprise, Kisshu lets go of her and his hands slide to her back. She gets this tingly feeling in her gut as she can feel his hands going under her shirt and lifting it up a bit. He lifted it pass her bra strap to see that small pipe size bruise that she got when he died. Then he kisses it and the pressure hurts but it felt warm and it made Ichigo's cheeks red. But there was one thing, he's kissing her back when it's passing her bra strap. After the kiss, she turns around and bonks him on the head. In a dream, he can feel that and her hand doesn't go through him.
"Just because you can get me all emotional like that and possibly a little guilty, it doesn't mean you can do that, you perv!" she scolds.
He looks at her with pouty eyes as he rubs his head. Then he goes back to his old Kisshu self as he asks, "Koneko-chan, do you remember how we were able to be reunited again?"
That brought her back to reality, kind of. She puts her hands on her hips and she's giving him the eye. "How can I forget? You scared the life out of me!"
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"How the heck are you still here?!!" Ichigo screams, looking at the hovering Kisshu.
Before, Ichigo was on her bed, curled up in a ball and crying. Then when she tries to sing a happy tune, she suddenly felt arms around her; no warmth, just the touch of someone holding her. Then she heard someone tell her not to cry and she recognizes the voice as Kisshu's. When she looked up, he moved his arms and looked at her straight in the eye. After a couple of moments, she screamed.
Kisshu raises his hands up and faces his palms at her while says, "Ichigo, honey, please try to calm down." But Ichigo didn't listen.
She just grabs the side of her head and realizes, "Oh my god, your death was a dream wasn't it?!" Kisshu just blinks in surprise.
"No it wasn't," he tries to tell her.
But she insists, "Yes it was! Oh my god!" Then she looks up at him with an angry and dangerous look. She gets off her bed and stands up. She points to the window and orders, "Get out, NOW!! Before, not only will I call the Mew Mews on you, I will fetch the Blue Knight and he will so kick your sorry butt back to your ship!"
Kisshu gets up as well and tries to reason with her. "Ichigo! I am dead."
"No you're not! Otherwise you wouldn't be here!"
"Look at me! Do I look WHOLE to you?"
She looks at his body and she has to admit one thing. He does look a bit transparent, but this is really surreal. She just shakes her head and turns around. She starts walking to the door. "I need a glass of milk! This cannot be happening!"
"Ichigo, wait!" he calls, flying after her.
She yells, while walking backwards, "No! Stay the heck away from me, Kisshu! I don't want to see you! Get out!!"
"Kitten, please try to just calm down and understand."
"I'll calm down when you're out of here! Stop fallowing me!"
"Why? It's not like anyone can see me!"
"But two people will because both of my parents are down stairs and if you continue to fallow me-"
"Ichigo, who are you talking to?"
Ichigo looks from Kisshu to her parents after that. She was going to say something that was threatening but when her mom asked her that, she got distracted. She sees her mom cooking dinner in the kitchen and she sees her father sitting at the table, reading the newspaper since he got home. He's looking at her as well and they both look concern and worry.
Kisshu tells her with his full voice, "They can't see me. Watch." Then he goes over and flies in front of the mom and waves his hands in front of her, no reaction. He goes to the father and tries to flap his paper from his hands, but Kisshu's hand goes right through it like he really isn't there. Ichigo was speechless but with two very confused parents staring at her, Ichigo had to think of something.
She choose acting like an idiot.
"Hahahahaha!!" she laughs. "Sorry about that. I was just reliving something that happened the other day and I forgot that it happened that day instead of today!"
Her father instantly asks, "Was it a boy?" Kisshu raises a brow as he stares at the father in surprise as Ichigo looks at Kisshu for a moment of thought.
She answers, like she's talking to Kisshu, "Yes, it was a boy." Her father looks like he's ready to go all up and arms about that while both her mom and Kisshu look at her in surprise. Ichigo takes a step towards the stairs and tells them, "Please excuse me!" Then she runs up the stairs and Kisshu fallows her, shortly after. But instead of waiting for him to come through the open door, Ichigo closes her door and Kisshu ends up going pass the closed door, making Ichigo jump.
"Don't do that!" she scolds, not loud enough for her parents to hear. "I'm trying to not come to the conclusion that you are a ghost because I hate ghost!"
"Well sorry to burst your bubble," Kisshu tells her dryly while completely entering her room through the door, "but I am a ghost. Remember?"
"I remember watching you die," Ichigo mumbles. "That did happen, right?"
He nods. "That's right. It did. After I died, I saw what every human described in the book." Ichigo blinks in surprise of this. She stays quiet while he tells her, "I saw this big white light and thought about going in. But I heard that after you die, you're not supposed to go into the light."
"That light was called heaven, Kisshu. Even though I don't know how you can be accepted into there," she mutters the end very softly but he still heard her. But before he could say anything, she tells him, "The only time you hear that you're not supposed to go into the light is when someone is telling you not to when you're dying. I distinctly remember that I didn't tell you that."
"Thanks for the affection considering that I didn't go into the light for you," Kisshu grumbles, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
Ichigo turns a bit red and tells him, "You didn't have to do that! Kisshu, listen to me. You died. You're time on earth is over and your business is finished. You should have gone into that light when you had the chance."
"But my business is not finished yet," he tells her. She looks up at him with curious eyes and a slightly open mouth and all of a sudden, his eyes seem strangely caring. His hand reaches for her face and when he tries to touch her, the tips of his fingers disappeared. He pulls it back as Ichigo gasps in surprise. She can feel his touch but no warmth. Still, he tells her, "I heard you crying for me so I came back. I didn't want to leave you just yet."
That moment would have been a really sweet heart to heart confession moment but Ichigo has a guy and this ghost in front of her is still the same carefree, annoying alien who bothered her even when he was alive. Now she has to deal with him when he's dead?!
Ichigo tries to slap his hand away but her arm goes right through. Kisshu pulls his hand back anyway to examine it and Ichigo asks before going into shock, "Are you telling me that I'm haunted by you now?"
There, Kisshu gives her one of his well known smirks that are full of teasing and trouble. He leans closer to her, close to enough that she could smell taste his breathe if he was alive and says, "Seems like it, kitty cat. You're stuck with me for life."
Ichigo takes a step back and holds her forehead with her palm. She looks like she's having a heart attack. "Oh dear god!!"
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In the same outer space setting, Ichigo throws down a card and is revealed to be a ten. "Then after that little drama, we found out that every time I sing, you appear in front of me like you were summoned."
"And when you're asleep, even if you don't 'summon' me in the real world, I appear and we can pretend like I'm still alive. We can touch without going pass the other, hold objects, and feel," Kisshu adds before putting down his card. It was a six. Ichigo takes those two and puts it in her big pile of cards.
Ichigo puts down another card and finishes, "Then when I wake up, you're gone and you will only appear in front of me again when I sing. I call your name, you don't come."
"Considering that when I first appeared, you were singing to yourself to calm your soul. You're a pretty good singer, koneko-chan," he tells her, giving her a sweet smile.
She however grins and tells him, "Don't try to flatter me and put down your card." Kisshu obeys and Ichigo wins another battle in War once again. Ichigo smiles and giggles while Kisshu has a vein pulsing on his head. "This is beyond ridiculous! You must be cheating since this is your dream!"
"Excuse me, but who was the one who choose to play cards in the middle of outer space?" she asks, grinning.
"I feel comfortable here and if I'm the one who has the power to choose the setting, how could you be getting all the good cards?!"
Ichigo tells him, "Aw, come on, Kisshu! Don't be such a poor loser." She puts down another card and it's a three. Trouble appears on her face as Kisshu now starts to think that he has a chance at this one.
But the next card he puts down ends up being a two. Ichigo lets out a sigh of relief as Kisshu does seriously not believe his luck. Ichigo takes the two cards happily and Kisshu grumbles, "I hate cards…"